Moyes admits he did ban chips at United

LONDON: Former Manchester United manager David Moyes has confirmed he did ban players from eating chips during his brief stint at Old Trafford because he believed some of the squad were overweight.

Rio Ferdinand, in his recent autobiography ‘#2Sides’, was severely critical of the way in which Moyes’s management style after he took over at Old Trafford and highlighted the chip ban as an example of what was wrong with his approach.

United Players had got used to having the low-fat chips as a pre-game ritual on a Friday night under Moyes’s predecessor Alex Ferguson — British football’s most successful manager – but the former Everton boss decided it was a treat they could do without.

“Yes, I did ban chips,” Moyes told Britain’s Four Four Two football magazine. “It was because a couple of players were overweight and I didn’t think chips were good for their diet.”

Moyes was sacked just 10 months into a six-year contract at Old Trafford when it became impossible for the club to qualify for this season’s edition of the lucrative European Champions League. (AFP)